Thailand rated high-risk for graft

[AlQaholic]

Thailand once again fail in the unending struggle to become the hub of everything....came in second again....

[ggt]

This could be most any country in SE Asia...it has been this way for generations...candidates for a high profile political office are often killed off by the competition because of the potential for becoming rich...offering favors for monetary gain is just plain expected in the area of the world...nothing new here...

[NovaBlue05]

Read just today that Prayut has $18M USD in assets and his salary as army chief was $43K USD annually at retirement. That's a he!! of an accomplishment!

where did you see this?

It's an AP article ran in Yahoo. I saw Oct 31 and thought it was from a week ago. On 2nd look, it turns out it was from Oct 31, 2014

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/thai-prime-minister-ex-general-153400812.html

Edited November 13, 2015 by NovaBlue05

[amerasianex]

Thailand is a lightweight contender. When it comes to corruption. Dwarfed by the civilized countries like the UK. Russia.USA.and most the others.

[SOTIRIOS]

..........it is the rule....

....you will only get the truth...... on anything...by accident.....

[shirtless]

Now the Army is in charge corruption is probably more rampant, but keep in house wink wink.

[stoneyboy]

Nicely worded thread title Graft.

[Peter Strand]

And what ?

[fred Kubasa]

G'wan ? Thailand risky ? Well, I never.........................

[Johnniey]

Of course it is, corruption is a core value of Thainess.

What an ignorant thing to say. You obviously haven't a clue to what 'Thainess' actually means.

[mmh8]

surely this should be under the F rating or even the TFU rating or even really <deleted> up

[sawadee1947]

amazing news....

[jaywalker]

I used be in the defense industry, and worked a lot with the RTA, RTAF & RTMC for a US company.

One day I visited an RTA place with our Thai agent, and later that day we went to an RTAF place.

The RTAF facility was much nicer, and I mentioned that. The agent just said "Yes. The chief of the RTAF not take so much money like the Army boss".

[NCC1701A]

[Just1Voice]

Of course it is, corruption is a core value of Thainess.

What an ignorant thing to say. You obviously haven't a clue to what 'Thainess' actually means.

Does ANYONE really know what "Thainess" means?????

[whaleboneman]

Read just today that Prayut has $18M USD in assets and his salary as army chief was $43K USD annually at retirement. That's a he!! of an accomplishment!

where did you see this?

It's an AP article ran in Yahoo. I saw Oct 31 and thought it was from a week ago. On 2nd look, it turns out it was from Oct 31, 2014

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/thai-prime-minister-ex-general-153400812.html

So double the number by now?

[tuanku]

So this group has established that there is no evidence that can show the military and organised crime are not working together? Isn't that in itself an insinuation that they are in fact working together? Especially since the report claims that the military and gov don't see that as a problem and are doing nothing to alleviate it?

With this info and the unspoken claims about the gov using private enterprises as well as having little to no transparency in their budget spending and no procedures for placing mid to upper level personnel. Seems this report is divulging quite a bit of info that would lead anyone into understanding why Thailand is rated class E for graft. But, as another TV member has already explained. The outside world just doesn't understand Thailand or thainess. So the rest of the world is wrong I'm their interpretation of all of their claims. Stupid farangs will never understand. Heheee

I am not sure that the military and organised crime are two distinct and different bodies. They are just points on a spectrum of corruption and sort of blend into one another.

[lowbo]

...uh duh!

[johnny49r]

Say what? Graft and Corruption in Thailand? Say it ain't so!!!

Does the author live here?

And now for something completely different: an article about how the junta is going to stamp out corruption!

Ya gotta love this place...

[jerojero]

How about civil inability to scrutinize ANY current Government purchases or spending!

[morpho]

DUH!!!

[Keesters]

Well I must say that having only just this week been negotiating for PWA to lay a new water pipe down my street to feed 6 houses at no time was I ever asked or hinted at giving them money. The job was completed quickly and FOC. I fully expected having to grease the wheels. I was wrong but it did take 3 visits and talking to a PWA manager before they acknowledged there might be a problem. Far better than previous dealings with them.

[thesetat2013]

Say what? Graft and Corruption in Thailand? Say it ain't so!!!

Does the author live here?

And now for something completely different: an article about how the junta is going to stamp out corruption!

Ya gotta love this place...

Well they did say they would work together with the RTP. That should tell you something.

[tuanku]

When they cannot even build a national monument using donated money without blatant corruption, you can imagine what is going on in the less transparent areas of the military budget acquisition process. The wealth of the high ups had to come from somewhere.

[Denim]

"The report noted that since the military coup in 2014, no independent scrutiny of the defence policy by the legislature is in place."

Because, then they would have to admit that the biggest threat needed to defend against would be an angry segment of the voting population from within its borders.

I agree completely. The biggest threat to decent Thai people is more terrorist attacks and murders by the UDD acting on orders from red-shirt politicians.

Same as it was just before the coup. What's your point ?.

The point is that if your view were correct there would be no need for submarines and blimps etc. Unless of course your UDD bogeymen have opened up an underwater base in the gulf of Thailand.

Still ......if Prayuth said they had you would doubtless believe it.

[NoshowJones]

No "high risk of corruption" here. 100% certainty.

Can all the people who talk about Thai corruption honestly say they have not participated in any way?

No point in being hypocritical about this, if there is any sort of corruption that's going to benefit you, then carry on

and don't complain about it.

Corruption in the UK is worse, ie the government and the banks, the big difference is that the UK politicians are much cleverer

and better educated than the Thai politicians, and can therefor use it for themselves and get away with it.

[NoshowJones]

Thailand is a lightweight contender. When it comes to corruption. Dwarfed by the civilized countries like the UK. Russia.USA.and most the others.

See my post #57.

[heybruce]

"There is a lack of budget transparency and insufficient institutional measures concerning procurement."

Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with the surprising wealth of so many generals.

"To make these more transparent and accountable, the government should publish an annual defence budget with detailed information on expenditures for such military-related functions as research, training, maintenance and personnel expenditures, the report suggested"

What are the chances we'll see this on the list of reforms? Assuming the junta ever tells us what the reforms are..

[Johnniey]

No "high risk of corruption" here. 100% certainty.

Can all the people who talk about Thai corruption honestly say they have not participated in any way?

No point in being hypocritical about this, if there is any sort of corruption that's going to benefit you, then carry on

and don't complain about it.

Corruption in the UK is worse, ie the government and the banks, the big difference is that the UK politicians are much cleverer

and better educated than the Thai politicians, and can therefor use it for themselves and get away with it.

Ok I'll admit it - I contribute to corruption and have done for 30 years.

I rather pay 200 baht to the road cop that the hassle of going to the station to pick it up.

I have paid immigration 5 k a year so I don't have to spend 10k going to Bkk every year for a letter.

I paid x00,000 baht to someone to get my daughter a good job.

I paid money loads of times for my son to 'pass' through school.

I paid for all my kids to "get entry" to a good school.

I've given a land office official money to grease the wheels.

many more examples esp. at the amphur

But I never complain about the corruption, so I ain't a hypocrite

[swerver]

Transparency International, yes remember when ti was created 22-years ago in Germany at which time I questioned the who is who involved in the creation and who did pay for the big cars like Mercedes they were tooling around in and the big Havana cigars they were smoking, sure did p%<s them off resulting in me being placd on their blacklist.

Transparency International and Amnesty International both in the same league of the none-NGOs referring to themselves as NGOs and there are lots of them if you care to do some in-depth searching.